The Bottom LineGateway's by-the-numbers FX6840-15e shows how mainstream PC vendors can fall down compared with their smaller, hungrier competition. This isn't a bad computer, but you can find faster gaming PCs elsewhere for less.

A new, mostly frills-free configuration brings the price of this all-in-one down, but...

The $1,099 Gateway FX6840-15e is a classic midrange gaming PC in a now-familiar specialized chassis. It has predictable components we expect for a PC in this price range, although we suspect those looking for a dedicated gaming system will wish Gateway had configured this PC for better 3D performance. Convenient front-loading hard-drive bays give the unique case design some substance, but overall its by-the-numbers CPU and graphics card combination fails to impress. Perhaps if you frequently swap out hard drives, this system may have some appeal. If gaming is your primary focus, however, you can get more performance for less from other vendors.

We've seen Gateway's gaming case a few times in the past, and its design continues to strike a more-or-less careful balance between style and mainstream appeal. The highlight feature is the drop-down door on the front panel that conceals a pair of removable hard-drive trays. This design is one of our favorite features in recent gaming PCs, and not only does it make swapping hard drives a tool-free experience, but not having to access the drives by removing the side panel makes the process almost as easy as plugging in a USB drive.

The remainder of the case features some convenient touches. We always appreciate a gadget tray, and the external case lighting and the thrust-forward port and Memory Stick bar minimize the amount of fumbling involved in connecting a pair of head phones or plugging in an SD card. Mobile device owners may also find the microSD card slot useful.

If we look at the Gateway's specs side by side with an aggressively priced holiday deal system from Velocity Micro, it's not immediately apparent that the FX6840-15e would prove to be the slower system on almost all of our performance tests. Yes, the Velocity Micro's overclocked CPU comes in almost 700MHz faster than that of the Gateway, but the Gateway still has a Core i7 chip to the Velocity Micro's Core i5. With 8GB of RAM and a video card with 1GB of graphics card memory, the Gateway has a few advantages over the Velocity Micro, at least on paper. You will likely find certain scenarios where the Gateway will come out ahead, but in most cases, and particularly for games, the Velocity Micro and its ambitiously overclocked CPU are simply too much for the Gateway. That the Gateway costs $100 more makes its lack of performance edge tougher to swallow. The Velocity Micro's Blu-ray drive doesn't help, either.

The Velocity Micro and the Gateway system are two of the most affordable PCs among the five listed on our charts, so we can excuse the fact that they're on the lower end of the performance scale. We just can't justify the Gateway's slower speed next to the Velocity Micro system. The Gateway loses out on all but our multitasking Cinebench test. If you use programs that you know will take advantage of the Core i7 chip and its eight processing threads, perhaps the Gateway makes sense for you. Otherwise, though the Gateway is an adequate performer as PCs go, the Velocity Micro Vector Holiday Edition is both faster and a better deal.

We find the same disconnect between performance and price on our gaming charts. The Velocity Micro system is twice as fast as the Gateway on our Far Cry 2 test, and almost twice as fast on our Crysis test. We suspect both the Velocity Micro's overclocked CPU and its higher-end Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 graphics card push it past the Gateway here.

Again, this is not to say that the Gateway is a poorly assembled computer. The Gateway FX6840-15e seems to have a reasonably balanced configuration for its price point. The problem is that mainstream PC vendors often have trouble competing when overclocking and other enthusiast-oriented tweaks come into the picture. By playing to its boutique PC roots, Velocity Micro is able to add more value than Gateway with its off-the-shelf components.